Worth It
by BostonRedStox
Summary: Emily just came out to her dad, and now she's dealing with the aftermath. Plus, her dad wants Maya to come over for dinner, which is always an awkward situation. My take on Emily's POV.


A/N: Hey guys, just so you know, I wrote the majority of this before the actual dinner episode which is why it differs so much. Focuses a lot on Emily and her experience coming out, more than just her relationship with Maya, though their relationship is a big part. I apologize for the OoC parts. Please enjoy the story, and feel free to review. Please.

"I'm...gay," she said gingerly staring at the bed. Then the gravity of what she just did coursed through her and it made her feel strong, so she raised her eyes to look at her dad and repeated more assuredly, "I'm gay."

His expression grew shocked and he sat on the edge of the bed. He looked around at Emily as if trying to find an explanation, or a hint of a joke in her eyes. But he only found unshed tears that showed the feeling behind her words.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

She nodded without hesitation. "I'm definitely sure."

He stared at her for a moment processing this.

"What happened to Ben? I thought you were-"

"Dad, Ben and I are finished."

"Well...is there, someone else now?"

Emily stared down at the bed.

He looked away from her and nodded his understanding, getting up off the bed to stand up.

"Well, I'm going to have to talk this over with your mother." He made his way to the door.

"But Em," he turned to face her, "I'll always love you," he smiled slightly the crooked smile Emily had loved ever since she was a child. And then he walked out and Emily was alone.

At first she wanted to cry, and she did shed a few tears, but never being one to sulk, she got off the bed. She paced for a few minutes until she had calmed down, stopping in front of the mirror and examining the reflection that appeared. She thought about her father's picture of her when she was eight, and how she had changed from that girl. She thought of the girl with the constant ponytail who never got out of the pool, who always had her work in on time, who always pleased her parents. That girl seemed so far away, but they were one and the same. Emily wondered what happened, what went wrong.

_Nothing's wrong_, she thought. She knew that being gay wasn't wrong. Though she didn't exactly live in a progressive town, she had seen gay couples before. But growing up in her conservative home with her strict parents had had at least some effect on her. She knew she shouldn't be feeling ashamed, but somewhere inside, she could feel it welling up. And there was nothing she could do about it.

She sighed and sat on her bed, picking up a textbook to distract herself with.

A couple hours later, she heard her parents' raised voices from downstairs. Silently and extremely carefully to avoid any creaking, she walked out of her room to listen closer, seating herself on the top stair.

"Why didn't she tell us?" She heard her mom say.

"She was afraid."

"Of me?"

"Of us."

And it was true. When she considered it, she found that she was more anxious about their reactions than anybody else's. Of course, the threat of A was foremost on her mind. But A was a temporary threat. Eventually, the girls would find out some vital piece of information to link them to A. It would be dangerous and their very lives would be at stake, but if..._when_, she corrected the pessimist inside herself, everyone came out of the situation unscathed, things would go back to normal. And it would just be Emily and her parents again. So it was natural, she figured, to worry that they might disown her, or make her move out.

"Where'd you get this?"

"Someone mailed it to me."

_My mother had the pictures of Maya and me kissing? And she's showing them to my dad?_ She felt alarm course through her. And again, she felt that bit of humiliation welling up, creating the sting of tears in her eyes. She berated herself for taking those pictures in such a public place.

"How are we going to fix this?"

"Fix it?" She heard her father. "This is not like buying her braces. This is who she is."

She felt a shot of gratitude run through her, though she was still shocked.

"This is wrong! This is completely wrong and you know it!"

"Do you think I like this? I don't. But when I went in there, I didn't know what she was going to tell me. I thought, god, what is this? Drugs? This Toby kid get her pregnant? Let's just keep this in perspective."

And the conversation went on similarly, until her parents moved to the kitchen to make dinner. She changed positions to lean on the wall, closing her eyes for a moment and taking a deep breath. So they knew, and it didn't seem like they were going to disown her. She let the relief wash over her. She was still embarrassed that her parents had seen the pictures and was still angry that A had pushed her out of the closet before she was ready, but she felt better. She used her sleeve to wipe her face dry and walked back to her room. On the way back to her studying, she paused. She looked in the mirror and saw the tear-stained girl staring back at her. She looked hopeful. Emily almost smiled, but she decided to sit down instead.

Dinner was awkward.

They were eating roast beef and spinach, so Emily asked her mom to pass the spinach, which she did. And Mr. Fields asked Mrs. Fields to pass the roast beef, which she did. And then they sat there eating in silence and staring at their food for a few minutes until Mr. Fields broke the silence.

"So Emily, the Maya girl I met when I got back from Afghanistan...is your girlfriend?"

Emily looked nervously up at him. In the corner of her eye she could see her mom's concerned face.

"Yes dad, Maya is my girlfriend." Her dad was kind of stiff, and Emily became a bit worried, but he gave her a small smile. She gave a smile back. Her mother stared at her.

"Emily, you can't see her anymore," her mother stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "We raised you with morals, honey, and you need to follow them. You're going to ruin your whole life! You're risking everything you've ever worked for, do you know that?"

Emily looked to her father and then down at her plate miserably. She knew who she was, and her parents weren't going to change that. But they could make life hard for her.

"No," Mr. Fields said suddenly, "she can still see Maya."

"What?" Mrs. Fields exclaimed. Emily looked up in amazement and hope.

"Emily is almost an adult now. She's going to see this Maya girl in school. I already told you, this isn't something we can change. In two years, all we'll have succeeded in is pushing her away."

"But you know this is not who she is! It's an experiment. It's an experiment put into her head by this Maya girl. That's all that it is!" Emily felt herself get angry at this comment. She grew tense and couldn't hold back the statement that was fighting to get out.

"No it's not," Emily said quietly. Both of her parents stopped talking and looked at her. She looked back. "It's not an experiment. And Maya's not the first girl I've liked."

Her mom's mouth opened and then closed. Her father continued to stare.

"I only dated Ben...to prove it to myself. Even while I was with Ben, I was..." she looked at her dad for support, "I was in love with someone else. A girl."

Mrs. Fields tilted her head incredulously. Emily felt her stomach tighten in nervousness, but she felt less angry. "Em...who?" Her dad asked. Emily shrugged. "It doesn't matter." There was a moment's silence, but her parents still looked at her to continue. She put her fork down and shifted slightly in her chair.

"Look, it really doesn't matter who it was, because I am...gay. I am gay. Maya or not." The idea was becoming more natural to her. "It's not an experiment. I just...want you to...I just want it to be like it used to be." And then she added almost inaudibly, "I want you to be proud of me." She blinked a few times to control her tears and started to slide her chair out to remove herself from the table. She stopped when her mom spoke.

"Emily, you do realize what you're risking?" Her mother asked with a final plea in her voice. Emily nodded. "Yeah, mom." She finished standing up and excused herself softly.

As she was walking out, she heard her father say, "Wait, Em." She stopped and turned around. "I want to meet Maya. Properly. Invite her over for dinner tomorrow." He still looked stern, but not with anger, or at least not that was directed at her. Emily gave him a small smile back. "I will," she answered, and then she exited the room, quickly glancing at her mother on the way out to see her looking confusedly down at her food.

When she got to her bed, she lied down trying to take in all that had happened. She had just come out to her parents, changing the image of the athletic, intellectual, and perfect daughter who would work, get married and live in a white picket fence house with tons of babies. Now, their entire plan for her future would have to change. She knew that she would be treated differently, and that many people would even hate her. But when she thought about Ben and his rough sloppy kisses, in comparison to Maya, and how every time they kissed she felt special, she knew it was worth it. If a more difficult life meant that she could keep feeling as incredible as she did with Maya, she could do it. All of a sudden, she ached to have some sort of contact with Maya. She wanted to hold her close and smell her floral perfume, hear her voice. She wanted to kiss her and have her tell her everything would be okay, that her parents still loved her. For Maya to reassuringly run her fingers through her hair and pull her closer, for Maya to turn and put her hands on Emily's shoulders, to gaze into Emily's eyes through her lashes in that way that made Emily blush. But thinking it would be a bit extreme to run out of the house to jump into Maya's arms on that day of all days, she settled for calling her on the phone.

She dialed Maya and sat up. She heard the phone ring a few times, but Maya didn't pick up. So she hung up and tried again. She heard Maya's voicemail on the other end, "Hey, it's Maya, I either couldn't pick up or didn't want to, so leave a message and I'll call you back." She smiled at Maya's voicemail, so classically Maya, and decided to leave a message. "Hey, Maya. It's Emily. Could you call me back, when you can? Please. If not, I'll see you tomorrow. Bye." Emily hung up and sighed. It had been a long day. She watched her phone for an hour out of the corner of her eye as she finished her homework, and then she decided to go to sleep.

When Emily woke up, she didn't remember the day before until she was brushing her teeth. Then she remembered. _I came out, I came out._ It rang through her mind like an echo. _I came out and nothing bad happened._ _Well, nothing too bad_, she added, remembering how her mom had reacted. She realized she had stopped brushing and resumed. But she stopped once again when she remembered what was supposed to be happening that night. _Dinner with Maya and my parents...at the same time._ Maya was a great girl, for her, but would her parents like the free-spirited, fun-loving girl who they thought was corrupting their daughter? Emily wasn't so sure. And what if they don't like her? She wondered in horror. Would that just reaffirm her mother's dislike of this whole situation? She decided not to think about it and just to concentrate on getting to school, managing to avoid both of her parents on her way out. She grabbed her bike and left.

Once she arrived, she put her bike away and was walking down the hall when she saw Hanna.

"Hey Hanna!" She called with a wave and a smile, and Hanna smiled back. "Hey Em," she answered. They started walking together.

"How was your night?" Emily asked.

"Not bad. No cryptic A messages. How was yours?"

Emily stopped and Hanna had to wheel around to face her. "Can I tell you about it later?"

"Sure," Hanna replied with a concerned expression on her face. "Is it about A?"

"Wha-oh, no. No. It's just I...told my parents."

Hanna was taken aback. "That you're..." Emily nodded. "Yeah."

Hanna's face burst out into a grin, and Emily couldn't help but join her. "Emily, that's great! But how did they take it?" She asked, her face concerned once again.

Emily shrugged. "They don't like it. But my dad took it better than my mom. And-oh god, Hanna, they want to meet Maya tonight. For dinner, as my g-" Emily leaned in, "as my girlfriend." She said quietly.

Hanna's mouth opened. "Oh wow, Em. That's intense. How do you think it'll go?"

Emily furrowed her eyebrows. "I'm not sure. I mean, I really like Maya. But my parents are really...You know. You've met them. And Maya's just the complete, total opposite."

"That's probably why you like her," Hanna said with a smile.

Emily felt herself smile too, again. Hanna was good at that. "Yeah, probably. I'm just worried that they're not going to like her. This dinner is my one chance to show my mom that even though I'm..." Emily made a suggestive face. "I have to show my mom that I'm normal."

"Emily, you are normal. And your mom will come to realize that, because she loves you. Just like Aria and Spencer and I do. It's who you are, and we love who you are. Okay?"

Emily didn't agree at first, but Hanna's contagious smile caused her to nod in agreement, and she was touched by Hanna's statement. Hanna hugged her as the bell rang. "We'll talk about it more later, okay?" She released Emily from the hug and they went their respective ways to class.

Between third and fourth period, Emily saw Maya walking down the hall with a group of giggling girls. She couldn't stop the insane feeling of happiness that burst through her and the uncontrollable ear-to-ear grin that came with it. "Yah," she heard one say, "cashmere is so out." Emily watched Maya nod politely to encourage her friends, though Emily knew Maya better than all of her friends and could see that she was desperate to escape. Emily decided to be her excuse.

"Maya," she called. Maya looked over and, when she saw whom it was, she smiled back, looking absolutely radiant. Emily felt her heart thud loudly in her chest. Maya excused herself and ran over to join Emily. "Hey Em!" She said, flashing her pearly whites in a dazzling smile that sent Emily's head spinning. "Uh..." was Emily's response. Maya laughed and leaned in a bit. "Glad to know I have that effect on you," she said teasingly. Emily looked down bashfully but then looked back up to gaze into Maya's dark brown eyes. "I told my parents last night. That I'm with you."

Maya raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Yeah." Emily laughed. Maya's face lit up and threw her arms around Emily in a giant hug, getting in the way of a few people who gave them dirty looks, but neither of them noticed or cared. All Emily cared about was how Maya was all over her, all warm, and she lost herself in it, involuntarily closing her eyes. "I'm so happy for you!" Maya exclaimed, letting go of Emily. Emily missed the contact, but understood that a longer hug would push the bounds of a purely platonic relationship in the eyes of the student body.

"They want to meet you. Tonight, for dinner. Or, at least my dad does." Emily tilted her head to gaze sadly at the floor.

"Your mom didn't take it so well?" Maya questioned, though she already knew the answer. Emily shook her head sadly.

"She'll come around, Em."

"So I've heard, but it just feels so..." Emily let the sentence trail off, looking up to find Maya's understanding and caring eyes. She felt better again. "Come around five?" She asked.

Maya nodded and grinned. "Yeah. See you later Em. I get to meet the parents," she sang as she walked away. Emily just stared affectionately after her.

"Someone looks happy," Aria noted when Emily arrived into the fourth period English classroom. "I'll tell you guys about it later," Emily said, positively bouncing on her way to her seat. Spencer raised an amused eyebrow and looked at Aria who shrugged.

At lunch, Emily was first to the table. She took out her chicken salad sandwich and bottled water when Hanna came in to sit with her. "Em! So, did you tell Spencer and Aria yet?" She asked.

"Not yet," Emily took a sip of water, "I plan on telling them this period."

Emily felt nervous, and Hanna noticed. "Don't be nervous, Em. You know they won't care. And I'm confident they won't judge you so far as taboo relationships go," Hanna joked. Emily chuckled. "That's a good point."

"Hey," Spencer said as she approached the table. Before they could answer, Aria approached from the other side of the table. "Hey," she greeted, "what's up? Emily, that question was directed to you." Aria sat down and scooted her chair in closer to the table. Spencer did the same. Emily took a minute to build up her courage while her friends waited anxiously.

"Guys, I have something to tell you. I mean, you've probably guessed already from the Alison thing, but I just want to tell you properly that..." She looked at Spencer and Aria curious expressions, and then to Hanna's reassuring face next to her. Turning back, she faced her friends and taking a deep breath finished, "I'm gay."

"No," Spencer drew out the word teasingly, with a gargantuan smirk. The four of them laughed together, the atmosphere being too serious for any of their tastes.

"Em, we don't see you any differently," Aria said. "We still care about you just as much as we did when you were dating guys."

"Thanks," Emily said, genuinely happy that her friends accepted her.

"Wait, we so have to hook you up with chicks! Do we know any lesbians at this school?" Spencer asked Aria.

"Yeah, there's that chick in our math class! What's it...Nicole!"

"The crazy one? Dude, I heard she killed someone! Hey, maybe she's A."

"What about that girl Gina?" Aria added, ignoring Spencer's comment.

"She's three hundred pounds! Emily needs a hot chick, preferably with a nice...hey, what are you into, Emily?" All eyes turned to Emily.

"Actually, I've been seeing Maya for a few weeks now." She blushed and took a bite of her sandwich. Spencer's jaw dropped.

"No way!" She exclaimed, causing some people to look over. When they got distracted again, Spencer continued in little more than a whisper. "I didn't know she was gay."

"Oh, she definitely is," Emily smiled and her eyes glazed over as she lost herself in the memory of cherry-flavored lip gloss and soft lips during their frantic make out session at the movie theatre.

"Earth to Emily," Hanna interrupted, waving a hand in front of her face. Before Emily could feel embarrassed, the fire alarm went off extremely loudly and the four jumped in their seats.

"Everyone exit the building calmly and orderly," came a voice from the PA system.

The girls got up laughing, and Emily added, "oh, and I told my parents."

"What?" Spencer and Aria asked, each looking shell-shocked.

Emily laughed even harder at their expressions and leaned in to add, "they want Maya to come over for dinner tonight." Somehow their expressions became even more shocked, and Emily almost died. It felt just like old times, when it was the five of them. And in the laughter, Emily felt herself losing her anxiety about that night, and it didn't seem so dire to her anymore. The four close friends not so calmly and not so orderly exited the building, hysterically laughing the whole way.

Emily sat on the edge of her bed nervously clicking her heels. She looked over at her alarm clock. It was 4:47, one minute later than the last time she checked. She was feeling a lot more optimistic, still in a good mood from seeing her friends and their reactions. Emily smiled; it was good to know that even if her parents wouldn't see her the same, her friends certainly did. Nothing had changed between them, except that Spencer kept questioning her in depth about Maya after checking that no one was eavesdropping. She had wanted to know why Emily was into girls, what Maya had that Ben didn't. Emily's answer had been, "It's just different. Softer. Better, for me." But that didn't satisfy Spencer, who wanted to know Emily's type, and was offended when Emily said she wasn't attracted to her. Emily laughed quietly at the memory. She felt a huge weight had been lifted from her. She felt lighter, happier. So far, the majority of the people she had told responded positively, her three friends and Toby, versus her two parents, her father on the fence. A look at the clock read 4:52. Emily sighed.

She was excited to see Maya, as she usually was, but was still a bit anxious about how her parents would receive her. How would they treat her? Emily doubted they would accept her with open arms. Her mother disliked her being gay even more than her father did, so Emily was expecting extra animosity from her. She came up with a few horror predicaments. In one, her parents served lemon chicken, and since Maya was allergic to lemon, she would have to refuse, and then her parents would think she was ungrateful..._oh god_, Emily realized. _I didn't tell them about her allergy! _

She stood up and began to make her way to the kitchen quickly, but stopped when she heard the doorbell. Her heart dropped. She gulped and turned around to look in the mirror. She fixed her hair and smoothed out her skirt. She heard footsteps coming from the other side of the house and slightly panicked, worrying that they'd get to the door before her. But she made it first and opened the door to reveal Maya, who smiled when she saw Emily.

"Hey Em," she said, walking through the door.

"Hey," Emily replied, grinning back. Emily closed the door carefully and then turned around. Maya had changed her outfit, Emily noticed, into a more conservative brown dress. Emily smiled, noting the brown matched Maya's eyes perfectly. Her expression grew soft.

"You look amazing," she said in little more than a whisper. The two stared at each other for a moment, until they heard footsteps approaching. Their eyes jerked away from one another and onto the shadowy form of Mr. Fields. He turned the light on in the living room, causing both girls to wince at the change in light.

"Dad, this is Maya. Maya, this my dad." Emily introduced the two, and they shook hands.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Mr. Fields," Maya said smiling, the incarnation of the perfect house guest, "Emily talks about you all of the time." Mr. Fields smiled back.

"It's nice to meet you too, Maya. Dinner will be ready in five minutes, so if you could set the table Em, that'd be great."

"Yeah, okay," Emily said, motioning to Maya with her hand to come with her, and then the two made their way to the kitchen to get utensils.

"Maya, could you sit with me for a minute?" Came Mr. Fields' voice. Emily and Maya stopped.

"Sure," Maya said sounding happy, but looking confused. Emily hesitated, watching Maya and her father sit down on the couch together, Maya at one end and her father in the middle. Maya looked up and shrugged at her. Emily continued her way to the kitchen to set the table, leaving them alone. When she was in the kitchen, she smelled tomato sauce and said a small prayer of thanks in her head. She turned the corner to see her mother mixing sauce with a wooden spoon. Her mother turned around, hearing someone, and saw Emily. She turned back around. Emily stared at her back sadly, feeling the discomfort exuded by her mother, and went into the drawer to grab four forks, knives, and plates. She left without a word.

Emily set the table so that Maya and her father were at opposite ends of the table, and her mother and herself were opposite from one another. She folded the napkins and placed the utensils. She was about to walk into the living when she crashed into her father, who was on his way into the kitchen. She apologized and they both chuckled. Maya followed after him into the kitchen. Emily watched her mom out of the corner of her eye to see her mother's reaction. She saw her mom glance briefly and then turn back to the stove.

"Table set Em?" Mr. Fields asked.

"Yeah," she answered, and he walked into the dining room. Emily leant in toward Maya.

"What was that?" She whispered. Maya shrugged with a devilish grin.

"I don't know. I'm not supposed to tell you." And she walked toward the dining room as well.

"Maya!" Emily called out suprisedly, but with a grin on her face. Maya kept walking. Emily admired her swaying hips as she walked, took a deep breath, and walked quickly to join her.

When she got into the dining room, she seated Maya and offered to go get drinks, which she did. Then she sat down and there was some awkward silence as they waited for Mrs. Fields. In a few minutes Mrs. Fields came in slowly with a large, precarious and steaming hot pot of pasta. She placed it on a decorative metal pot holder.

"Good evening Mrs. Fields," Maya greeted with a nervous smile.

Mrs. Fields looked at her. "Good evening Maya," she replied, with a slight polite smile. _At least she's acting respectfully_, Emily thought.

Mrs. Fields took each person's bowl and plopped some pasta into it using a large fork. The four began eating quietly.

After a minute, Mr. Fields broke the silence. "So Maya, do you play any sports?"

Maya speedily finished chewing. "Not in school, though I do jog twice a week."

Mr. Fields raised his eyebrows interestedly and smiled, "so does Emily. Maybe you two could jog together sometime."

"Oh yeah?" Maya asked, looking up at Emily who was taking a bite. Emily, feeling eyes on her, looked over at Maya and nodded, blushing slightly and covering her mouth so as not to expose a view of her half-chewed food.

"How are you enjoying your time off from work, Mr. Fields?"

"Honestly Maya, it's been a little stressful, but I'm glad to be home, eating dinner, safe with my family," he replied, looking over at Mrs. Fields to not so subtly remind her of the conversation they had had the night before. She took a sip of her wine.

They continued eating, mostly in silence, occasionally Mr. Fields asking Maya questions. He asked about her hobbies, which she said were reading, hiking, and drawing, but Emily knew better, noting that she forgot to include watching television, shopping, and Emily's personal favorite, cuddling. He asked how she was settling in to her new town. She said that while she missed her friends from home, everyone was very kind and extremely welcoming, with a slight emphasis on the last word. This went unnoticed by Emily's parents but caused Emily to find Maya's leg and nudge it with her toe. This then resulted in an intense footsie match between them, though they were careful not to make faces or move their upper bodies in ways that would reveal their under-table activities. Maya eventually came out on top and hid her victory smile behind a sip of her ginger ale, and they returned to eating in silence.

When everyone had finished, Mrs. Fields cleared the table and brought out the chocolate pudding she'd made in elegant crystal dishes. Emily, taking a bite of her pudding, watched Maya's expression of joy from the corner of her eye. Her mother needed to make that pudding more often, she thought, as she tried several times to rip her eyes off of Maya, who had taken a bite and had her eyes closed in pleasure. Emily almost succeeded in looking away, until she saw Maya dart her tongue out to lick some stray pudding, and her mind went to dirty places. She smiled, realizing that Maya really seemed to bring that out in her.

"Emily," she heard her mother's voice. Emily's eyes jerked off of Maya and she immediately felt guilty. Inwardly, she resolved to try and make that feeling stop occurring.

"How do you like the pudding?" She asked.

"It's delicious, mom," Emily answered. Instead of asking Maya, Mrs. Fields decided to continue eating, so Mr. Fields flashed a quick look of annoyance at his wife and asked, "How do you feel about the pudding, Maya?"

Maya smiled. "It's fantastic. Chocolate is my absolute favorite."

"Mine too," said Mr. Fields, "and Pam's." They bonded over chocolate for a while, and Maya promised to send them some dark chocolate that her parents' hippie friends made.

Soon, everyone had finished, and Mrs. Fields started clearing the table. Maya offered to help, but Mrs. Fields turned her down, though she seemed to appreciate the effort. She packed some extra spaghetti for Maya to bring home and walked back into the dining room. Everyone stood up.

"Thank you for having me. Dinner was delicious to say the least, and I appreciate you giving me a chance," Maya said.

Mr. Fields smiled back. "It was a pleasure meeting you," he reached for her hand and they shook hands firmly.

"Thanks for coming," Mrs. Fields said, shaking her hand as well, even managing a hint of a non-forced smile.

"I'll walk you to the door," Emily said, pulling herself out from the table.

They walked together through the house and Emily opened the door. She unlocked it and stepped outside with Maya, closing the door behind her.

"Your dad likes me," Maya said happily, putting down her food and grabbing Emily's hands.

"So, what did you guys talk about?" Emily questioned.

"I'm not telling," Maya laughed, "he was just looking out for you. Told me a couple of things about you, and I told him a couple of things about me."

"What things?" Emily asked nervously.

Maya shook her head. "Now that would be betraying my duty as the daughter's girlfriend. That's a very important duty, you see," she said in mock seriousness.

"Yeah, yeah," Emily responded, "and I think my mom will warm up to you. She was polite at least."

"Very polite," Maya agreed. She looked up into Emily's eyes for a moment.

"Em, I had a great time tonight," she said softly, moving in a little closer and placing one of her hands to cup Emily's cheek.

Emily moved her hand on top of Maya's hand. "Maya..." she started, and her arm snaked around Maya's neck as the two moved closer. She tried to think of something to say, but was at a loss for words. Their closeness was intoxicating, so she stopped trying to think and decided to close the gap between them, pulling Maya tightly to her with her other arm, leaving only centimeters between their faces.

Maya stared at Emily's lips, licking her own lightly, and then she reached up Emily's back, dragging a hand up to her neck, to her head, and all of a sudden, she pulled Emily's face down and leaned up, closing her eyes and touching her lips to Emily's.

Emily began to kiss back feverishly, and she felt Maya move even closer, if that were possible. Her mouth was moving on its own and she lost herself in the kiss, focusing on the feel of Maya's soft body against her own, the slight taste of chocolate on Maya's lips, and the warmth of Maya's mouth that caused her to lean even further into the kiss. When she felt her tongue massaging Maya's, she did not know when it started, nor did she find it in herself to care. She felt warm all over, and she moaned into Maya's mouth. Emily felt Maya shiver in return and she couldn't stop the thud of arousal that was quickly spreading throughout her body.

When Maya began to pull away, Emily whimpered, not wanting to stop, but knowing that she had to go back inside or her parents might come out to find her, she also pulled away, until once again only their hands touching. And then Maya slipped her hands away and she was alone. Maya grabbed her food and began to walk away. She turned around to show Emily the large dazed smile on her face, which was extremely reminiscent of the one Emily was sporting. Emily waved. Maya waved back, and then turned away to finish her walk home.

Emily stood there for a minute, watching her walk away. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This was so worth it.

A/N: Sorry for the lack of closure with the mom, but in general, someone who doesn't like homosexuality isn't going to accept it right away. So that would require chapters, which is a bit too intense what with college and everything. Anyway, you know you want to review.


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